Family Feud tie rule

[Ian Wallis]

I vaguely recall something like this being brought up In another thread a couple of years ago, but I was watching Feud today, and in the double-run episode there was a tie for the No. 1 answer in (I think) the second question.  Both of the top two had 32 points.

One contestant buzzed in and guessed one of the answers and it was revealed in the No. 2 position.  Steve then asked the other contestant and he guessed the answer in the No. 1 position.  Steve then said "it's a tie so the person who buzzed in first gets control".

The whole thing is kind of stupid...if the answer that the first contestant gave was the one in the No. 1 position on the board, the other family never would have been asked.  Once one of the tied answers was given, going to the other family was moot because the first family automatically got control whether the answer was there or not.  By the contestant giving the other answer, he actually helped the other family because they had fewer answers they had to come up with.

I think they should still mention when there's a tie for the No. 1 answer so this kind of thing doesn't happen...they used to in the "classic" version days.

[dale_grass]

I think they should still mention when there's a tie for the No. 1 answer so this kind of thing doesn't happen...they used to in the "classic" version days.

I can't think of a single reason, good or otherwise, why the current production doesn't do this--after all, if the answer in the top slot had been flipped instead of the second, Steve very well wouldn't ask the other contestant for an answer.  Does anyone have any insight on this?

[BrandonFG]

I remember in the original thread Ian's referring to, someone mentioned it's more of a moot point now with the computer software, as opposed to the slides. Even in the Dawson/Combs era, how hard would it have been to place the #2 slide at #1 instead?

But, yeah I agree, it's silly for Steve not to mention at the top that there's two number ones, and simply award control to whoever gets it first. They created extra work for themselves.

[TLEberle]

Even in the Dawson/Combs era, how hard would it have been to place the #2 slide at #1 instead?

Unless there's a door in the game board so that you can get stagehands inside, then to get a signal to swap number one and two, and to do it in the amount of time that Ray says "Show me Boondoggle!", then that's probably why they didn't do that.

[BrandonFG]

It's been years since I've seen it, but there's video of what it looks like behind the board, including the jumbo trilon spinning.

I wanna say it was a behind-the-scenes look at the intro to the show, as Ray entered the stage.

[Steve Gavazzi]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd swear I've seen this same thing happen on a Dawson episode.

[TLEberle]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd swear I've seen this same thing happen on a Dawson episode.

He he would include a line about "there's joint number one answers, if you find one it will win the face-off." I think there's a recent one in the A/V section under the name "Family Feud: Impossibility?"